Harry Kane Cements England Case in Style, but Charlie Austin Shows Merits Too
LOFTUS ROAD, LONDON — On the terraces of the Ellerslie Road Stand there was simply no debate to be had.
“You’re just a s--t Charlie Austin” was the blunt assessment aimed at Tottenham Hotspur’s Harry Kane on Saturday, although the objectivity of the Queens Park Rangers fans analysing the relative merits of the two prolific English strikers on display is certainly open to question.
Among the more impartial, however, this was still an individual contest many had been waiting for, a chance to evaluate both highly touted men in a controlled environment. Kane started the game with 14 league goals to his credit, Austin with 15, and both sides needed their respective hitmen to be on form as they pursued their objectives at opposite ends of the table.
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Come full-time, the two players would embrace briefly, exchanging a few friendly words, but it was Kane who had undoubtedly won the day—the 21-year-old scoring twice to propel Spurs to a 2-1 win as the player he was supposedly just a pale imitation of ended up cutting a frustrated—and goalless—figure.
A win would have lifted QPR out of the relegation zone, albeit only on goal difference, but defeat means they remain three points from safety and needing to find a boost from somewhere. This was another case of their obvious effort and intensity not quite being rewarded, as a Spurs side who rode their luck at times—and had referee Craig Pawson to thank at others—exploited obvious weaknesses in the heart of the QPR defence to keep their Champions League qualification campaign on track.
“You just need that little bit of fortune at times to go your way,” QPR boss Chris Ramsey said afterwards. “The Arsenals and the Tottenhams have that little bit of quality, if they aren’t playing well they can still pull something out of the bag.”
It was Kane, once again, providing that quality. He now has 26 goals in all competitions for the season, a mark only Gareth Bale can match among Spurs players over the last 20 years. His goalscoring, in his first full season at the club, is already elevating him into some lofty company.
“It's a massive win, we always seem to be winning 2-1,” Kane said afterwards. “We looked in control, but we looked in control the other night [against Swansea City] and Hugo Lloris had to make a big save. So we have to improve in killing teams off.
"I'm loving my football, being out there with my team-mates and my mates. I feel good and confident, it's important for a striker to have that. The second goal was a nice, composed finish.”
Kane vs. Austin may sound more like a wrestling contest than anything else, but the presence of England manager Roy Hodgson in the stands at Loftus Road meant this game carried as much significance as any "Table, Ladders and Chairs" match. The Three Lions boss may well have been there in part for Ryan Mason, who perhaps offers a different midfield option to many other English players, or the resurgent Andros Townsend and Kyle Walker, but no one was seriously considering that it was anyone other than Kane and Austin that he truly came to evaluate.
Last month, Hodgson certainly seemed to confirm Kane would be in his next squad selection, admitting as much—“If all goes well and he stays fit I’m pretty sure he’ll be in”—live on the BBC during Manchester United’s FA Cup match against Preston North End.
This week, however, Hodgson seemed to row back on those comments somewhat, suggesting that the 21-year-old’s call-up for the squad to face Lithuania and Italy (announced on March 19) is still to be decided.
"He's in my thoughts of course, he deserves to be," Hodgson said (per the FA) this week, at the London Football Awards (which Kane also attended). "He's scoring goals for one of our top teams in the Premier League.
"I'm delighted for him and we'll see when I select my squad at the end of month if he's in it," Hodgson added. “But I can't include everyone unfortunately. It's not always a question of 'are they good enough?', it's a question of 'is there space at this time?'."
In the last England squad, which was named more than three months ago, Hodgson’s strikers were Wayne Rooney, Danny Welbeck, Rickie Lambert and Saido Berahino.
Of those, Rooney and Welbeck are certain to continue, while Daniel Sturridge is highly likely to be included again after returning from injury. Lambert and Berahino would therefore appear to be at risk of being dropped, but Berahino (12 PL goals) has been prolific since the turn of the year for West Brom and Lambert, while hardly a factor at Liverpool, seems to have earned Hodgson’s trust.
As Hodgson added: “Most of the players that we've had, at least in the forward area of our squad, have done quite well for us during the autumn, so you can't include everybody unfortunately.”
Berahino would certainly seem to be the next cab off the rank, so to speak, after being forced to sit out both games in November (Hodgson did something similar to Southampton full-back Nathaniel Clyne, giving him one squad to acclimatize before giving him his debut the second time around), but he has a few off-field issues the Football Association might be concerned about.
If he and Lambert are dropped, then Sturridge and one other might be called up. Kane would seem to be the obvious option to fill that "other" spot, but the fact Hodgson is now less inclined to commit to anything indicates that others, Austin among them, have also caught his eye recently.
The truth is that Hodgson would not be picking between two prolific goalscorers, but two subtly different types of forwards. Austin’s lower-league upbringing is obvious in the way he plays; unafraid to put his presence (and elbows, and shoulders) about in a way Kane, who can flit in and out of games in a way that does not always seem planned, does not.
Austin seems constricted by the lack of quality of some of his team-mates, but he also elevates them when on or around the ball—anticipating their touches and planning his movements in such a way that he and they invariably make better decisions when he is involved.
Almost everything good that QPR did in attack on Saturday involved their No. 9 in some way. That was certainly the case with Austin’s best chance of the game, a glorious opening where he anticipated Matty Phillips' low ball into the box before firing a powerful shot that cannoned away off the crossbar.
Kane, in contrast, seems to be made better by the quality of those around him, although anyone (apart from perhaps Roberto Soldado) would surely prosper in the company of Christian Eriksen. It was Townsend, however, who provided the ball for the opener just minutes after Austin had hit the bar, punishing that miss in emphatic fashion.
Kane won a cheap free-kick about 35 yards from goal and then met it in the six-yard box, heading Towsend’s delivery past the stranded Rob Green to put the visitors in front.
It was some abject defending, which would also contribute to Kane’s second. The home side played a bizarrely high line and Ryan Mason’s ball over the top released Kane into acres of space, the striker underlining his current confidence as he rounded Green and slotted home.
Austin occupied and unsettled Spurs' back line for almost the entire 90 minutes, but Kane seems to have that knack of picking the right moments and making the biggest possible impact. There is an efficiency about his play to go with the lethal finishing touch he currently possesses.
"It's difficult to say anything else about Harry,” Spurs boss Mauricio Pochettino acknowledged, admitting also that Kane had "changed my opinion" since the start of the season. “His performance today shows his strength to keep working. It's Roy Hodgson's decision if he plays for England or not, but all of us here in the Tottenham family are happy with him."
Austin had his moment late on, providing the hard running and driven-low cross that would ultimately allow Sandro to get one back but, as with his team, it was too little, too late to turn the tide.
Afterwards, Ramsey, who worked with Kane at Spurs, agreed that Kane was the difference, and a player worthy of England recognition already.
“Yeah, I’d pick him,” he said, albeit weary of the question and unwilling to take any credit for the youngster’s development. “He’s polished himself. He works hard enough to get where he’s at… but that’s not really my focus now, it’s more about how we can regroup and get ourselves back to trying to win a game, to get ourselves some more confidence and get the morale back up for a bit.”
It is hard to judge Austin’s England case, especially when he has Bobby Zamora beside him doing so much of the heavy lifting. He would certainly seem a more obvious replacement for Lambert in the England squad than Kane, for example, with his physical build making him well-suited to lead the line and his willingness to run the channels not necessarily to be confused with an aptitude for it (midway through the second half, he lost Kyle Walker horribly down the right, eventually blocking Eriksen’s shot on the line to atone for his error).
Kane would seem far better suited to the fluid attacking line England have often operated under Hodgson, a modern player capable of swapping out—preferring to, even—to either flank or even behind the main striker, something that would theoretically enable him to dovetail with Rooney, Sturridge and Welbeck in a way Austin would struggle to match. But Austin would be an intriguing, different option to have on the bench if such a system was not working out on the pitch.
Kane still has plenty to learn, of course, more so than Austin in many regards. Much might have been made of Austin’s back story—released by Reading at 14, a builder while playing non-league before working his way up the professional ranks—but this is now his sixth straight season where he has scored more than 10 league goals, showing a consistency in front of goal that Kane, Berahino and others will need seasons to show they can match.
"I have scored 100-odd career goals now,” Austin was quoted as telling The Sun this week, “and think I have done enough to be considered a player rather than a builder who plays football.
“I know where I have come from but I feel like I have done enough to be known as a footballer now."
Only Hodgson knows whether there is one space in his next squad for a new call-up, or two (or none). If there is only a solitary free spot, then Kane cemented his candidacy with this performance, one where the tangible resource of goals was accompanied by a display that suggested he will quickly be assimilated into the Three Lions system.
Austin, however, should not be discounted. He offers a different skill set, one more akin to Lambert’s or Andy Carroll’s but, still only 25 and with a relatively clean injury history, he possesses distinct advantages over both those players.
This was Kane’s game, just as it has been Kane’s season. But Hodgson will have come away impressed with Austin too, on a day when both players enhanced their international prospects in different ways.
"I just need to keep doing what I'm doing,” Kane added. “There are still a few more games until the international break so I just need to do the best I can for Spurs."
The same is true of Austin.
All quotes obtained firsthand unless otherwise stated.
